Today, 210 cadets & staff from our schools visited the National Memorial Arboretum as part of their historical and social enrichment package within the Combined Cadet Force.
Thank fully the weather was clear and all of our cadets enjoyed learning about the various monuments situated around the grounds.
We would like to thank members of the Wales & West CCF Test Team for supporting the visit, and the staff of the National Memorial Arboretum for hosting such a large group of us.
M. Neale, 10M1, was the first recipient of the silver badge for praise and received his badge and certificate in last week's house assembly. M. Neale constantly applies himself to all aspects of school life both in and beyond the classroom. His hard work, excellent work ethic and community spirit make him a role model of excellence.
We congratulate him on his achievements and look forward to seeing him strive towards the gold award.
To find out more about the rewards and opportunities at Barr Beacon School, please follow this link: https://bit.ly/475SlWn
Our Reading Challenge 2024, has commenced this week in the Barr Beacon iCentre. 15 Year 12 pupils, acting as reading mentors to 15 Year 7 pupils, have enjoyed reading 'Journey Back to Freedom' by Catherine Johnson. Working together to build reading confidence and a love for reading, our Year 12s have taken a lead in engaging our Year 7s in their reading. In this picture, Reading Challenge mentor Z. Barkat is showing her mentee images of where the book is set to help him to picture the scene and immerse himself in his reading!
National Apprenticeship Week is taking place from Monday 5th to Sunday 11th February. There are lots of events taking place online for pupils and parents/carers to explore. Please take a look at the booklet below for more information.
This week pupils have had assemblies about Holocaust Memorial Day: they have been reminded of the events of the holocaust and genocide of the Jewish people in World War Two. However, sadly that is not the last genocide that the world has seen. The assembly touched on genocides since then in Rawanda, Darfur and Cambodia, amongst others.
These messages were explored in terms of this year’s theme: the fragility of freedom. Pupils considered the seriousness of how our Beacon Values link to protection of our fragile freedoms every day. That living in a world where everyone is equal to others and never discriminates is essential to ensure such atrocities never happen again.
J Coley and J Donoghue – Head Students
27th January marks the day that Auschwitz, the largest Nazi death camp, was liberated in 1945. On this day, annually, we as a community come together to learn about those who fell victim to the Nazi persecution and take action to create a safer future, preventing mass genocide.
Why is it important?
Remembering, discussing and learning about the Holocaust is important to raise awareness about contemporary forms of antisemitism, xenophobia and hatred. It mirrors the danger of prejudice and extremist movements, whilst helping to promote human rights. Being able to tackle this can help to build societies more resilient to varying forms of extremism.
What happened during the holocaust?
Many of us know the history of the Holocaust, where approximately 6 million Jews and at least 5 million prisoners of war, Romany, Jehovah’s Witness, homosexuals and many other victims were persecuted. However, to deepen our understanding it is important to look at stories of individuals who survived this genocide.
David Bayer was Born on September 7th, 1922, in Kozienice Poland. David was part of the Manes family, who owned a successful shoe factory in Poland. On September 9th the Nazis captured Poland, but David and his family hid in forests, where they successfully avoided them. When the family returned, they found their possessions were destroyed, including their Passover dishes (which is a Jewish festival that celebrates the liberation of slaves in Egypt). Furthermore, when the Nazis seized Polish Jewish businesses, David was forced into the Kozienice ghetto, where he worked as a houseboy and a translator for gestapo policy in 1942. After this he was then sent to the Treblinka Killing Centre, where the rest of his family were killed – however David was smuggled back to Kozienice to clean up the rest of Ghetto. He was then sent to one of the largest concentration camps (with a death toll of an estimated 1.1 million), Auschwitz Birkenau, to work in the highly dangerous Jaworzno Coal mines. In January 1945, he escaped into a forest near the sub camp of Blechhammer, and was found by Soviet Soldiers, weighing just 70lbs at the age of 23.
This is one of few examples of people who survived during the Holocaust and emphasises the extreme persecutions that these groups were subjected to. To find out more information regarding the Holocaust Memorial Day, click the links below:
https://www.ushmm.org/remember/holocaust-survivors/volunteers/david-bayer
Episode 1: Express Yourself
Do you have a special talent you wish to showcase at our next big live event. You will have the chance to perform on stage in front of a live audience in Birmingham in a state-of-the-art theatre Millennium Point on Thursday 18th April 2024. Whether it be singing, juggling, stand-up comedy or anything in between, we want to see all your wonderful talents. Unfortunately, we cannot accept Dance entries this year due to the size of the stage.
How to enter:
Thirty-four Non-Commissioned Officers from Barr Beacon School, Bloxwich Academy, Etone College, and Wednesfield Academy attended their Method of Instruction course held at Barr Beacon School over the weekend.
The cadets learnt how to structure and deliver instructional sessions to their fellow cadets using syllabus training subjects as a basis. Each of them then had to plan and deliver two instructional periods which were assessed by the staff during the weekend.
By the end of the weekend all of the cadets had earned the right to wear the coveted yellow lanyard and begin instructing within their contingents. Well done to all of the cadets who attended the course.
World Braille Day falls in January each year. This year, to raise awareness, we had an assembly from our SENDCO, Mrs Walker to explore what braille is and how it was created. Pupils commented that they hadn’t known about braille beforehand!
The SEND team has also offered two fantastic opportunities to sign up for: pupils have been challenged to sign up to either learn how to read braille or how to do sign language. Our pupils were excited to be able to learn about supporting those in our school community who may need differing forms of communication to support them.
Barr Beacon School
Old Hall Lane
Aldridge, Walsall
West Midlands
WS9 0RF
T: 0121 366 6600
postbox@barrbeaconschool.co.uk
Monday - Thursday: 8:00 am - 4:00 pm
Friday: 8:00 am - 3:30 pm
